After the fantastic experience of running the Flora London Marathon, I’m joining the LRF running team again at the BUPA Great North Run and hoping to raise more money in memory of my best friend John Merritt. John, died of acute myeloid leukaemia in 1992. He was 35. John's mother also died of leukaemia in 1970 when John was still at school. And, almost unbelievably given that the disease is not thought to be hereditary, six years after John's death his own daughter Ellie also died of leukaemia. She was nine years old.

John left a widow, Lindsay, and a daughter he never lived to see, Hope, who is now nine. It is in part to keep John & Ellie's memory alive for Lindsay and Hope that I am doing this. But above all I want to raise as much money as possible for research so that others like John and Ellie may live less painful lives.

Amid the tragedies, there are stories of optimism. One of my 8 year old daughter's best friends who lives next door to us, has survived leukaemia. So has one of my closest colleagues at work for whom the disease has now been in remission for ten years. So treatment can work and so can research- We just need your help!


Registered Charity: 216032